Sports in Haryana
Haryana
falls in the category of one of the top states in India in sports. Haryana stands out in sports like kho-kho,
boxing, kabaddi, wrestling and judo. The Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, in Haryana, deals with the sports
in the state. The department is executing various schemes related to sports in order to
promote these traits among the young crowd of
Haryana.
About Department of Sports and Youth Affairs Haryana
Sports play an important role
in the growth of qualities like tolerance, discipline and leadership in an individual. In
order to nurture these traits among Haryana’s youth, the department is executing
numerous sports schemes. The various schemes are implemented through 312 competent coaches
who are posted in the different districts of Haryana. Among the 312 coaches, 14 coaches are
posted by the Sports Authority of India. Following are the main sports schemes:
Improvement of Sports Infrastructure
Under this scheme 15 stadiums at the district
level as well as eight more stadiums have been built at Tehsil/Block level. Besides these 10
swimming pools, 4 multipurpose halls, 7 yoga cum badminton halls, 5 gymnasium halls, 1
Hockey Astro Turf in
Gurgaon at “Nehru Stadium” and 1
synthetic track in Hisar at “Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural Univ) have
also been constructed.
Moreover, HUDA has finished its sports complex in the
Sec-3 of
Panchkula. This
sports complex offers the facilities of volleyball, badminton hall, cricket pavilion and
athletics stadium and basketball ground. There is one more sports complex in
Faridabad which is
of International standard. In
Rohtak, Sec-6 has a sports complex spread over an area of 83.13 acres and
Motilal Nehru Sports School, Rai owns an indoor hall. Apart from these at the Chaudhary
Charan Singh University in Hisar a special sports training centre has been set up to give
coaching to hundred girls and boys in boxing, table tennis, athletics and judo.
Sports Nurseries and Wings
There are total 34 nurseries at Hisar, Ambala, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Panipat, Rewari, Sirsa, Faridabad, Jhajjar,
Gurgaon, Jind, Narnaul, Sonipat and Kurukshetra in
cricket, judo, boxing, hockey, basketball, kabaddi, wrestling, football, volleyball, table
tennis, gymnastic, badminton and athletics that are run by the Department of Sports in Haryana. Besides, the various
corporations or boards have adopted 11 nurseries. Sports wings that have been opened
in different districts offer advanced coaching to the players and each selected player is
provided with a refreshment of Rs 60 daily. Sports wings are soon to be set up in the
remaining districts as well.
Sports Competition Scheme
The Sports Department organizes district, block, national
and state level competitions for men, boys, girls and women belonging to different age
groups. These competitions are conducted all through the year to look for new talents and
also to see the development of the existing players. The state and district level
competitions are known as Women Sports Festival and Rural Sports Tournament. Haryana boasts of outstanding
wrestlers in the state. The Haryana Government has announced wrestling as the “
State
Game” and hence a special wrestling scheme is also being executed. The district Kesari
or Kumar “Dangal”, Haryana Kesari or Kumar “Dangal”, state and
district “Akhara” competitions are organized on a daily basis.
Incentive Scheme
In all the different sports competitions cash awards are given to
the exceptional people based on their performance. 1st, 2nd and 3rd position holders are
rewarded with cash prizes. Correspondingly, school or college players who are position
holders are also rewarded with scholarships. After the alteration in the Sports Policy 2009,
the incentives and cash awards have been increased. The state cabinet has also given
approval to grant cash prize of Rs 5 lakh to people who climbed the Mount Everest after the
month of March in 2005.
According to the amendment the disabled people who are
the winners of Paralympic Games will also be rewarded with the same amount of cash just as
the normal Sportspersons receive from National level to Olympic level. The cash prize
amounts for Paralympic or Olympic Games in 2016 will increase from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 5
crore for gold medal winners, from Rs 1.50 crore to Rs 2 crore for silver medal winners and
from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore for the winners of bronze medal. From 1st May 2010 the
awardees of the Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Awards of
Haryana state are granted with an honorarium of
Rs 5000 every month.
Youth Welfare Scheme
The Sports Department has implemented various youth welfare
schemes like Chetna Sangh, Youth Club Schemes, Nehru Yuva Kendra and Adventure Sports to
foster the all round progress of Haryana’s youth who fall in the age group of 13-35.
Every year the Sports Department organizes training camps for adventure sports, trekking,
food preservation, river rafting, seminars on Drug Abuse and AIDS, youth festivals, youth
week and youth day in order to channelize the youth strength in the right path.
Sports Equipment Scheme
Under this scheme at the numerous coaching camps of
Haryana a regular training is
imparted which is totally free of cost. In this regard, equipments worth rupees one hundred
and fifty lakh are bought from the Director Supplies and Disposal,
Haryana.
About Haryana State Sports Council
The Government of
Haryana has formed “Haryana State Sports
Council” in order to encourage sports in the state. The Chief Minister of
Haryana is the head of the
Sports Council and Minister of Sports is the Vice President of the council. The Secretary of
Sports is the member Secretary of the Sports Council. The Sports council has 8 members in
total who are nominated by the President of the council.
The main aim of the Sports
Council is the planning and execution of the schemes for the well being of sports persons,
to encourage team spirit, build character and promote sports among the residents of
Haryana through the means of
sports.
The council also offers advance coaching to sports persons of
Haryana to achieve high standard
of sports. The council has observers who are sent to different sports competitions or
tournament matches played within
India as well as abroad. This not only encourages
the fortitude of comradeship between the various District Sports Councils, associations but
also plans and accepts the methods to spread and perk up the standard of different sports
and games in
Haryana.
In order to encourage the games and sports and to accomplish its goals, the Sports
Council of
Haryana raises
funds by means of donations, grants or subscriptions. The Sports Council also
allocates money to the District Sports Associations and Councils, State Sports Associations
and to sports persons who deserve it. The other functions of the Haryana State Sports
Council are- building and preservation of the sports infrastructure and possessions as well
as to get the financial aid from the Indian Government under different schemes.
Infrastructure for Sports in Haryana
In order to encourage sports one needs to have
a strong infrastructure. For this purpose 46 nurseries have been established throughout
Haryana which offer games
kit, food, free hostel and training to the sportspersons. There are around 232 rural or mini
stadiums and 13 sub divisional stadiums that have been established along with full-time
trainers. These stadiums are managed by the school management, district authorities and
parents of the athletes jointly in a true civic collaboration.
There are 21
district sports complexes and two state sports complexes. Besides this, there is also a
center for research in the arena of sports medicine and a sports library. In different
cities center of excellence have been set up for individual sports. Besides, there are 6
multi-purpose halls, 5 gymnasium halls, 5 hockey astro turfs, 7 swimming pools and 4
synthetic athletic tracks.
The wrestling academy in
Sonipat and
Rohtak and the boxing academy in the
city of
Bhiwani
are the most popular schools which have given numerous award-winning wrestlers and boxers to
Haryana.
The available sports infrastructure in
Haryana in its various districts is given
below:
- The Ambala
district has War Heroes Memorial Stadium and one golf club known as the Kharga Golf
Club.
- Bhiwani
district has 3 playing fields, one stadium (Bhim Singh Stadium) and one sports complex.
- Faridabad
district has 2 stadiums (NHB Stadium and Nihar Singh Stadium) and one golf club ground.
- Gurgaon district has 2
stadiums (Tau Devi Lal Stadium and Nehru Stadium) and 3 playing fields.
- Hisar district has one stadium (Mahabir Stadium) and only one ground known as the Haryana Agricultural University
Complex.
- Jhajjar district has one stadium (Jahanara Bagh Stadium) and one ground known as the
Virender Sehwag Cricket Academy Ground.
- Kurukshetra district has one stadium (Dronacharya Stadium) and one ground
known as the University ground.
- Rohtak
district has 2 stadiums (Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium and Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium) and 3
playing fields.
- Sirsa district has one stadium known as the Shah Satnam Ji Stadium.
- Panipat
district has one stadium known as the Sports and Youth Well Stadium
- Sonipat
district has only one ground.
Popular Sports in Haryana
Listed below are some of the most famous sports played in
Haryana:
Cricket in Haryana
The Haryana Cricket Association governs all the cricket activities in
Haryana and also the Haryana
Cricket Team. The Haryana Cricket team has produced some of the best players to play for the
cricket team of
India which
include
Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja, Mohit Sharma, Chetan Sharma, Joginder Sharma, Amarjit
Kaypee, Amit Mishra, Rajinder Goel and
Ajay Ratra. The Haryana Cricket team has
won “
Ranji Trophy” once and just once it came as runner up. In 1991,
Haryana won the Ranji
Trophy by defeating
Mumbai
by 2 runs. This victory allowed them to appear in the Irani Trophy. In 1992,
Haryana won the Irani Trophy
against rest of
India.
Archery in Haryana
Archery is another sport which is very popular
in
Haryana. The Haryana
Archery Association manages the archery in
Haryana. Presently, the president of this
association is
Abhimanyu Sindhu. The Haryana Archery Association is affiliated to the
AAF or Asian Archery Federation, IAF or the International Archery Federation and IOA or
Indian Olympic Association. In order to promote Archery numerous Archery academies have been
set up in different districts of
Haryana. In these academies players are trained
and then sent to compete in the state, district, national as well as international level
competitions.
Golf in Haryana
There are numerous golf courses which are spread all over
Haryana. Among these the most popular ones are
–
Hisar Army Golf Course, Karga Golf Club (in
Ambala),
Faridabad Golf Club and the
Hisar Police Lines Golf Course. All of these golf courses offer excellent equipments for
golfing at a very affordable rate. These golf courses also allow you to join as a temporary
member.
Hockey in Haryana
Hockey is
another game which is highly admired in
Haryana. The Haryana Hockey Team participates in
various “All-India” tournaments. The Indian Hockey team has around forty to
fifty percent hockey players who hail from
Haryana. The
Hockey Haryana (or
HH) is the new united body of
Haryana which has the only permission to manage
and perform all the activities pertained to hockey for men as well as women.
The
HH was established on 24th June in the year 2009. The Hockey Haryana is a recognized
association of
Haryana and
is affiliated to
Haryana Olympic Association (or HOA) and Hockey India (or
HI). The HH has drawn out a development program for an extended period with the help of HOA
and Department of Sports in
Haryana. This program aims to train the athletes
and to give them the domestic revelation apart from the regular state level and national
level tournaments.
There are mainly 6 teams in the Hockey Haryana (HH)
which are known as- Men Senior Team, Women Senior Team, Men Junior Team, Women Junior Team,
Men Sub Junior Team and lastly Women Sub Junior Team.
Football in Haryana
Football is played in Haryana with great enthusiasm. Sri Deepender
Hooda is the President of the Haryana Football Association (or HFA). In
order to brush up the football ability in the state the HFA has established a football
academy in partnership with “Panasonic India” in Rohtak at the Maharishi Dayanand
University. This football academy was inaugurated in December, 2012 by Deepender
Hooda. The academy provides a residential training to maximum 30 children between the
ages of 13 and 16.
The football academy aims to promote, train and help the
promising footballers to take part in the national as well as the international level
tournaments. In India the
majority of people are thrilled about cricket and since Haryana won the maximum medals during the Indian
Olympics, there is no scarcity of capacity in this state. Therefore, the football academy
encourages the players to take football to a level where it can be equivalent to the
enthusiasm that cricket receives in our country.
There is one more football
academy in Gurgaon.
Besides, there are 4 football nurseries in Rohtak, Hisar, Gurgaon and Ambala to recognize football talent
from all over Haryana.
With the establishment of football nurseries and academies Haryana is now producing excellent footballers
due to which the ranking of India is gradually improving and will be even
better in near future. Haryana also organizes Santosh Trophy,
under 16 and under 21 national football tournaments within the state.
Contact
Details of Haryana Football AssociationAddress: H. Number 9, HVPNL Clny,
Jharsa Rd,
Gurgaon,
Haryana
Secretary: Mr. Sunil Bharadwaj
Mobile number:
09810618217
Landline number: 01242329250
Fax number: 01242329250
Wrestling in Haryana
Wrestling is also an extremely popular sport in
Haryana. The
Haryana Wrestling
Association gives training to both men and women to excel in this sport.
Sri R. K.
Hooda is the Secretary and Sri
Deepender Hooda is the President of the Haryana
Wrestling Association. This association is located in
Rohtak in Adarsh Nagar near the D-Park
inside the University Campus. The Haryana Wrestling Association conducts competitions at the
state level and the winners of the state level tournaments are eligible for the national
level tournaments.
Kho Kho in Haryana
Kho kho is a traditional sport of
India which is quite popular in
Haryana. The
K.K.F.I or
Kho Kho Federation of India is the main body which organizes this game. The
K.K.F.I
has various branches that are spread over all the states in
India including
Haryana. Men, women and kids all are encouraged
to play this thrilling sport. Kho kho is also promoted in different schools of
Haryana. The K.K.F.I conducts
Junior, Mini, Sub Junior and Open National Championships for men as well as women. Arjuna
award,
Rani Laxmi Bai award (to women),
Eklavya award(to men)and
Veer
Abhimanyu Award(boys below 18 years)are some of the most popular awards that are awarded
to the winners of Kho kho.
Boxing in Haryana
Boxing is another
exhilarating sport of
Haryana. The
HSBA or
Haryana State
Boxing Association is the governing body of this sport which is located in
Gurgaon. It is a non-
governmental organization. The various awards that are granted to the winners of various
boxing tournaments are given below:
- Arjuna Award
- Dronacharya Award
- State Award
- Padmashree Award
- Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
- Asiad Jyoti Award
There are various boxing academies that
have been set up in the different districts of
Haryana which are training the budding boxers to
be able to compete at the national level boxing tournaments.
Sports Achievements in Haryana
In
Haryana more and more women are adopting sports
as a career. About forty percent of the medals achieved by
India in the common wealth games held recently
have been won by the sportspersons of
Haryana. Moreover, about one third of these
medals have been won by the women athletes of
Haryana. Women in
Haryana are getting trained in wrestling, kho-
kho, kabaddi etc. and making
India proud by winning the state as well as
national level tournaments. Following are some important achievements in numerous sports
played in various tournaments:
- London Olympics (From 27th July-12th August 2012)
There were 4 medal winners
from Haryana out of 6
medal winners. Yogeshwar Dutt, Gagan Narang, Sushil Kumar and Saina Nehwal bagged 1 silver
and 3 bronze medals in the London Olympics 2012.
- Commonwealth Games (From 3rd Oct-14th Oct 2010)
Haryana athletes bagged 6 silver, 21 gold and 8
bronze medals in the 2010 Commonwealth games. Prashant Karmakar who hailed from Haryana won one medal in the
Commonwealth Paralympics.
- World Wrestling Championship (From 16th Sep-19th Sep 2013)
World Wrestling
Championship took place in Hungry and from Haryana two players named Bajrang and Amit Kumar
bagged bronze and silver medals respectively.
- World Junior Women Hockey Championship (From 27th July-4th August 2013)
It
took place in Germany and the Indian Hockey team for women bagged the medal which
encompassed six hockey players who hailed from Haryana. Rani Rampal who hailed from Shahbad was
declared has the top scorer of this tournament.
- The women players in Haryana also won the overall championship in the
National Women Tournaments conducted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports,
Govt. of India. In the year
2011-2012, they bagged 1 bronze, 4 gold and 4 silver medals. In the year 2012-2013 they
bagged 2 silver, 7 gold and 1 bronze medals.
- Also in Under 16 National Rural Tournaments conducted by Ministry of Youth
Affairs and Sports Haryana
won the overall championship. In 2011-2012 it won 15 silver, 33 gold and 18 bronze medals.
In 2012-2013 it bagged 27 silver, 35 gold and 19 bronze medals.
Also Read: Sports in Bhiwani | Boxers from Bhiwani | Sports in Rewari | Sports in Panipat | Sports in Rohtak | Sports in Ambala | Sports Stores in Ambala | Sports in Gurgaon | Sports in Palwal | Sports in Sirsa | Sports in Yamunanagar